NBL24 Round 19 continues on Saturday night where the usual double-header is on the cards. Second up on the slate is the Perth Wildcats vs Cairns Taipans at RAC Arena. As always, we have you covered with a free preview and best bet for the game below!
Also, we’re providing previews and expert betting tips for every game of the NBL24 season, so make sure to head over to our NBL Tips page regularly to keep up to date with all of our content.
NBL24 Round 19 Preview & Betting Tips
Perth Wildcats vs Cairns Taipans
Saturday 8pm AEDT, February 10th, RAC Arena
After a dominant couple of months, there have been a few chinks in the Perth Wildcats armour over the past fortnight. They’ve lost two of their last three games and their only win during that span was against the Phoenix who are severely undermanned. Still, the Wildcats have put themselves in a very strong position in second spot on the ladder with only a couple of games to go.
Most recently, the Wildcats were outworked at home by a far more determined Breakers outfit. They went into that game as the favourites but ended up going down by 11 points (78-89). Interestingly, the Wildcats failed to score 80 points for the second time in as many weeks, and that had only happened two other times across the season as a whole.
Also going through a tough stretch right now are the Cairns Taipans. They looked to be well positioned to secure a Play-In berth a couple of weeks ago, but three losses in the spin have made things very, very tricky for the Snakes. They must now win their remaining two games and hope that other results go their way to have any chance of featuring in the post-season.
Last time out the Snakes were outclassed in the second half by the JackJumpers to eventually lose by eight points (86-94). They found it extremely difficult to string together stops in meaningful moments, and their lack of a true rim protector was clearly evident once again. The Snakes now haven’t kept a team under 88 points in six straight games, and only the lowly Phoenix have a longer such streak.
Match prediction: This will be the third meeting between these clubs this season and the Wildcats currently lead the series 2-0. They protected home court in their first clash in mid-November (88-80) and managed to double the dose in late December when they defeated the Snakes by three points in Cairns (105-102).
Clearly, the Wildcats are the more talented team in this matchup and are thoroughly deserving of their short-priced quote in the head-to-head market. However, the Snakes are playing to keep their season alive and teams in such situations regularly lift to the occasion. With that in mind, I’m keep to have something small on the Snakes to cover the +9.5 handicap, which they’ve been able to do in both meetings with the Wildcats to date.
Cairns Taipans +9.5
$1.80 (1 Unit)
